Bee: Kings look ready to draft big man

[Circa_1985_Fan]

Spencer Hawes=Joe Kleine

 

[JayBird]

I had forgotten that we traded Jon Barry for Mateen "The Towel" Cleaves. That one was... awesome.

 

[Arena Skeptic]

If Kenny Thomas was an expiring contract I would be ecstatic but unfortunately he has 3 years left on his deal. I'm just still pissed that we had 12 million in expiring contracts last year and we didn't use any of it and just let them go.

That's why I say it's bullet-biting time.

Notice I didn't say it's time to bite THE bullet. By my calculations, Petrie has about 5 bullets to bite right now, and it'll be several years before he can stop.

You know, if I were the Lakers, I wouldn't mind having Bibby on my team. Nice player. He'd fit in well. One look at that contract, though, and you're saying, "No thank you, Geoff", and hanging up the phone.

The thing you gotta understand is teams LOVE it when other teams are saddled with bad deals. Example: Adonal Foyle, Golden State Warriors. He many never play another minute as a Warrior, and yet he'll retire as a Warrior. Why? Because of the contract.

Teams love it that the Kings have these five contracts. They think it's fantastic. No one will take one of these deals off the Kings' hands.

So, fine, take the best player available, and just let people know that 33 wins might be a reasonable expectation for a few years.

Oh well. Where's the "shrug" smilie when I need it?

 

[NoBonus]

I normally don't highlight parts of articles but I thought it worth it this time.

I thought it especially interesting that Amick reported the Kings are among the most active in trade talks.

Indeed. Makes me hopeful that some change will come to the Kings to change their fate.

 

[mcsluggo]

I had forgotten that we traded Jon Barry for Mateen "The Towel" Cleaves. That one was... awesome.

What I don't understand from that one is why did we give them the (presumably more valuable) Atlanta 1st rounder instead of our own first rounder?

 

[Rockmeister]

Spencer Hawes=Joe Kleine

I think more like a Brad Miller.

 

[BALLER4LIFE]

if we draft spencer hawes, i will be irate!!! NO MORE BIGS THAT ARE SOFTIES!!!!!!!!

 

[Jechtsphere]

if we draft spencer hawes, i will be irate!!! NO MORE BIGS THAT ARE SOFTIES!!!!!!!!

Same for me lol.

 

[allrightythen]

I have the same fear of Hawes, but to be fair to the kid he is only 19 years old. It's not like what you see is what you get. The chance for development is there.

That said he was not a great rebounder or defender in college, but are those things he can learn or just wasn't interested in doing?

 

[Rain man]

I think more like a Brad Miller.

I disagree completely (well almost completely). People assume Miller and Hawes are a good comparison because of the rumored lack of defense. I am a huge fan of Pac 10 basketball (watch 5-6 games per week), and saw a TON of Hawes last year. Here is some more information about the guy...

He was the 4th ranked overall recruit for the 2006. The guys immediately ahead of him were Oden, Durant, B. Wright. He was ahead of Thad Young (6), Chase Buddinger (8), Brook Lopez (11) and Mike COnley (28). He garnered scholarship offers from Washington, UCLA, Arizona, Stanford (despite already getting the Lopez twins committed), Duke, Kansas, Connecticut, and North Carolina.

When recruited his pros/cons were listed as follows:
Pros- Hands, Low post scorer, work ethic
Cons- Defensive Presence, Strength, mid-range jumper

"Uses both hands at the rim effectively like few are capable of doing. Talented and skilled in the paint, he's got a variety of scoring moves. Can play facing the basket or in the post. Like most young bigs, strength will come and help his game. Loves to play and work on game."

Watching him play, he is the anti-Miller on offense. Would much rather operate from the post and has a VERY polished post game, especially for his age. DOES NOT play from the elbow. When he faces up, he faces up by turning out of his post move, and plays along the baseline. He is a decent passes, but certainly not a facilitator like Brad.

People knock his rebounding and point to 6.5 boards per game. First of all, he was a freshman who spent the first third of the season coming off the bench. He averaged 28 minutes a game to get his 6.5. It should also be noted that he played alongside John Brockman who is basically a bully who is out there to mix it up and rebound. Brockman averaged almost 10 boards a game, so to fault Hawes for not grabbing boards is to complain that people who play alongside Reggie Evans, Dwight Howard, Dennis Rodman don't get enough boards. Hawes showed ability to get tough rebounds late in the game, which is always a plus.

As for defense, Hawes is certainly not an athlete. However, he is a decent to good post defender, and he got better as he got more strength. He also averaged almost 2 blocks a game in his 28 minutes. A lot of his defensive "deficiency" comes from the fact that Washington played an up and down style similar to Phoenix of Golden State, and many teams in the Pac-10 also play that way. There are about 4-5 teams in the NBA that Hawes would be a defensive liability against. However, he played very well in games where teams slowed the tempo. He showed signs of being a good help-side defender, and some of his best defensive games were against teams that tried to run half-court offense (UCLA) or who tried to feed the post (Stanford- and Hawes played VERY good defense against Lopez).

He isn't Tim Duncan or Greg Oden, but he is much better than a lot of people realize. People see slow white guy and think bust. Vlade and Brad were both slow and unathletic, and were far from busts. Spencer brings different things than both of those guys did, and I think he can be successful.

If Yi and B.Wright are gone, and Petrie thinks Hawes is the way to go, I will get on board...

 

[bibbinator]

I dunno. I expect to be disappointed with whatever happens.

Bibby isn't going to work out on a rebuilding team, because of his salary and need for minutes. He needs to go, but where? And how many more KTs might we have to take back to move him?

I'd love to believe there is going to be some great surprise tomorrow but I don't.

One small bright side is that Salmons can be traded easily. It gives GP some flexibility.

 

[perezident]

I dunno. I expect to be disappointed with whatever happens.

Bibby isn't going to work out on a rebuilding team, because of his salary and need for minutes. He needs to go, but where? And how many more KTs might we have to take back to move him?

I'd love to believe there is going to be some great surprise on Friday but I don't.

One small bright side is that Salmons can be traded easily. It gives GP some flexibility.

same bibbinator from rgm??

 

[bibbinator]

same bibbinator from rgm??

No. At least not that I know of.

 

[sactownfan]

I cant believe we beat the clippers ! Muss i hope the door hit you on the way out !

 

[Kingster]

I disagree completely (well almost completely). People assume Miller and Hawes are a good comparison because of the rumored lack of defense. I am a huge fan of Pac 10 basketball (watch 5-6 games per week), and saw a TON of Hawes last year. Here is some more information about the guy...

He was the 4th ranked overall recruit for the 2006. The guys immediately ahead of him were Oden, Durant, B. Wright. He was ahead of Thad Young (6), Chase Buddinger (8), Brook Lopez (11) and Mike COnley (28). He garnered scholarship offers from Washington, UCLA, Arizona, Stanford (despite already getting the Lopez twins committed), Duke, Kansas, Connecticut, and North Carolina.

When recruited his pros/cons were listed as follows:
Pros- Hands, Low post scorer, work ethic
Cons- Defensive Presence, Strength, mid-range jumper

"Uses both hands at the rim effectively like few are capable of doing. Talented and skilled in the paint, he's got a variety of scoring moves. Can play facing the basket or in the post. Like most young bigs, strength will come and help his game. Loves to play and work on game."

Watching him play, he is the anti-Miller on offense. Would much rather operate from the post and has a VERY polished post game, especially for his age. DOES NOT play from the elbow. When he faces up, he faces up by turning out of his post move, and plays along the baseline. He is a decent passes, but certainly not a facilitator like Brad.

People knock his rebounding and point to 6.5 boards per game. First of all, he was a freshman who spent the first third of the season coming off the bench. He averaged 28 minutes a game to get his 6.5. It should also be noted that he played alongside John Brockman who is basically a bully who is out there to mix it up and rebound. Brockman averaged almost 10 boards a game, so to fault Hawes for not grabbing boards is to complain that people who play alongside Reggie Evans, Dwight Howard, Dennis Rodman don't get enough boards. Hawes showed ability to get tough rebounds late in the game, which is always a plus.

As for defense, Hawes is certainly not an athlete. However, he is a decent to good post defender, and he got better as he got more strength. He also averaged almost 2 blocks a game in his 28 minutes. A lot of his defensive "deficiency" comes from the fact that Washington played an up and down style similar to Phoenix of Golden State, and many teams in the Pac-10 also play that way. There are about 4-5 teams in the NBA that Hawes would be a defensive liability against. However, he played very well in games where teams slowed the tempo. He showed signs of being a good help-side defender, and some of his best defensive games were against teams that tried to run half-court offense (UCLA) or who tried to feed the post (Stanford- and Hawes played VERY good defense against Lopez).

He isn't Tim Duncan or Greg Oden, but he is much better than a lot of people realize. People see slow white guy and think bust. Vlade and Brad were both slow and unathletic, and were far from busts. Spencer brings different things than both of those guys did, and I think he can be successful.

If Yi and B.Wright are gone, and Petrie thinks Hawes is the way to go, I will get on board...

I'm with you Rain Man. I saw him in college too. And he dominated in some of those games. He's not a Brad Miller, that's for sure. He won't make the spectacular play, but he works his butt off, and he's a very good post player, which seem rare these days. I think with time, he'll become very strong physically because he has the right build. I don't think the Kings take him though because I think Minni or Chicago take him ahead of us. I think he'd be PERFECT for Chicago.

 

[1kingzfan]

...Hawes is certainly not an athlete.

And that is exactly why Petrie should not draft him.

The NBA game has changed, and athleticism is at an all-time premium. Hawes is a skill player, and very good in his own right. I saw him play a few times in Pac 10 games last season, too, and he is not what the Kings need. We need to get more athletic, and I would take an ostensibly lesser big man than Hawes that was way more athletic, based on future potential to make an impact in an ever-growing-more-athletic NBA.

 

[Kingster]

And that is exactly why Petrie should not draft him.

The NBA game has changed, and athleticism is at an all-time premium. Hawes is a skill player, and very good in his own right. I saw him play a few times in Pac 10 games last season, too, and he is not what the Kings need. We need to get more athletic, and I would take an ostensibly lesser big man than Hawes that was way more athletic, based on future potential to make an impact in an ever-growing-more-athletic NBA.

If there's one thing that the Golden State -Dallas series showed is that if your big man (Diop or whomever) can't punish the little guys on the block, you're better off going little. But in this case we're talking about a guy who can definitely punish the little people on the offensive end; he'll force the other team to go big. If you put a 6'8" 210 pounder on this guy, forget about it: like shooting fish in the barrel for him. Hawes has a very good post game. So, not only do you have to double him, but he's a very good passer. I like the uber athletes too, but methinks the anti-Hawes talk has more to do with the underperformance of Miller and the unfair comparison to Hawes than it has to do with any objective assessment.

 

[RIP miyagi]

im happy that we are going to get a quality player. I have a question though, since they say they don't want players that resemble martin or douby, do you think they would draft corey brewer if he is available. He is like an inch taller than them. I really liked his game in the finals, but my wish would be for mike conley or noah.